Best Game of 2015
Dec. 2 @ Warriors
21 pts., 11 rebs.
When the Orlando Magic made their lone trip to Oracle, they were just starting a West Coast road trip that instilled a ton of confidence they could turn the corner. The game at Golden State itself did that even though Orlando lost a late lead and fell on a Stephen Curry 3-pointer.
To that point though, the Magic had played one of their better games of the season. And O’Quinn’s finger prints were all over it as he continued to start for the Magic on the West Coast swing with Nikola Vucevic out.
O’Quinn put in the kind of consistent effort you want to see from him, particularly in a starting role. He just consistently put up good numbers, contributing where he could, taking what the defense gave him.
Daily Knicks
This was the epitome of all the good O’Quinn can do. Score when the opportunity arises, play solid defense, grab rebounds and provide energy.
When O’Quinn plays like this, the Magic figure to have a chance to win. Doing this while stepping into the starter’s role with Nikola Vucevic was out was even bigger.
It may have been early in the season, but the Warriors have clearly become one of the best teams in the league. It would take gargantuan efforts from several players — Victor Oladipo scored 27 points and Tobias Harris had 17 — and a defense that held the Warriors to less than 30 percent shooting from beyond the arc to nearly pull off a victory against who everyone presumes will be the NBA champions.
This was a big moment for O’Quinn and he helped lead the way to what seemed like an impossible win (especially now and even at the time).
Stephen Curry just was Stephen Curry at the end.
Next: 2016 Outlook